Liz Cohen - Rio Grade Repair

This limited edition, large-scale C-print from photographer and performance artist Liz Cohen documents a drive she took along the Texas-Mexico border in the Trabantimino, a car that she designed and built to transform from an East German Trabant to an all-American El Camino. The test drive/performance/video Tex Mex that these pieces are a part of was commissioned by Ballroom Marfa for the exhibition Autobody, and is part of an eight-year project called Bodywork in which the acclaimed artist apprenticed with automotive technicians to create the Trabantimino with the hydraulic technology commonly found in lowriders. Cohen simultaneously converted her body into one worthy of a car-show bikini model, making Bodywork a celebration of multiple subcultures.